Having seen much of the eastern seaboard of the US over the last few months we decided last week to hire a car and have a drive inland for a day or two.  Although we spend our whole time on the boat watching the weather we failed to take the same factors into account for our trip ashore.  "Skyline Drive", a 105 mile route through a National Park along the spine of the Appalachians has a reputation for providing some stunning views both to the East across lush Virginia and West over the Shenandoah Valley and the mountains stretching towards the interior.  Sadly the view is not so good when the roadway is in the clouds so we tootled along in the fog trying to imagine what we should be seeing.  Fortunately the day was saved by the arrival within our very limited range of sight of a black bear, who just happened to wander out on to the verge as we passed.  He (or she) seemed very relaxed and happily went on with his (or her) bear business right beside us providing the highpoint to an otherwise soggy day. 

 

 

 

In addition to our bear sighting we had a stomp along a very short (6 mile) section of the 2000+ mile Appalachian Trail which runs all the way from Georgia to Maine and then a fascinating visit to Monticello, the wonderfully preserved hilltop home of Thomas Jefferson, drafter of the Declaration of Independence, 3rd US President and generally interesting bloke. 

 

It was clearly a good thing that we spent a little time away from the boat as I found myself helping Lucy into a tight parking spot with the words "I think you need to shift the bow a little further to starboard".  What was even more concerning is that Lucy did not even seem to notice!

 

We returned to Bamboozle for a special weekend as our great friends Andrew and Flora Cross, who now live in Washington D.C. came to stay.  We spent a wonderful evening with them in what would have been a particularly peaceful anchorage were it not for the sounds of merriment emanating from our cockpit!